Behind the "Deformer - Inner-Outcast"

Our favorite artist & good frend Deformer a.k.a. Mike Redman released a great record from Redrum Recordz this month.
Deformer mixes Death Metal and Hip Hop with Jungle and Breakcore in the best balance on "Inner-Outcast". and A lot of legends from Hip Hop and Metal participate in this record. Certainly "Inner-Outcast" is Deformer's new masterpiece.

This time, Mike specially explained "Inner-Outcast". 
After reading this article, we'll understand how "Inner-Outcast" is a great record.

The idea of making 'Inner-Outcast' came up when I was in New York a few years back.

I've been there regularly throughout the years and somehow every trip had something memorable in a very special way.

I've been performing there, won awards for some of my documentaries, I've exhibited with my art and met many inspiring people along the way.

That particular year I was listening a lot of Metal music again, something I started off listening to in the 80's (as wel as Rap music).

When I'm in a musical trip like that I dive in it completely. One of my favorite Death Metal bands of the 90's was 'Suffocation'. They were pioneers of the genre.

I was always a fan of their drummer Mike Smith. A true beast behind the drumkit with a very recognisable style. I knew that he is from around NY, so somehow

I managed to get in touch with him, sent him some of my stuff and before I knew it he invited me to his house.

We had a great time and the plan for making a record was born...

Before working on the record I already had a concept. I wanted this record to be a tool for people who are suppressing their genuine feelings and taste, different from average, to let it out and unleash their 'Inner-Outcast'.

1.Metal Breakdown
When I was more focussed on releasing Rap music on Redrum Recordz, on one of the 'Underground Hits' compilations I had the pleasure to release a track by Deams featuring Ice-T.

Ice-T is obviously known for being the OG in the Rap field, but also as being the founder of Metal band Body Count. You gotta understand that not everyone dares to step outside of their musical comfort zone, but if someone understands blending extreme genres, it's Ice-T, so I always hoped for some sort of collaboration. This time our contact was through email and I asked him to record an alternate version of a legendary intro that he has on his classic album 'Home Invasion'. Every hardcore Hip Hopper will immediately recognise the intro. So he recorded it and to me it was another dream come true.

On guitars there is Morean, a guitar virtuoso and classical composer, also known for being part of Black Metal band Dark Fortress. I actually came up with all the metal riffs on the record, but needed great guitarists to play them. Morean is one of them.

2.The Carcass Carver
With this track everything got a bit out of hand. I wanted to merge hardcore Rap with Death Metal. Something that was blasphemes in the past. Rap and Metal were miles apart, actually the fans were. Remember Slayer and Public Enemy were on the same record label for some time. There were some great Rap and Metal crossovers in the past, but most of them , in my opinion were not as intense as both genres were separately. The Carcass Carver is my attempt to actually try and merge the more extreme sides of both genres.

I tried to get some iconic rappers from the 90's on the track at first, but most would not even respond. Then I thought, why not contact a future legend? And I saw this in A-F-R-O, a young artist who is currently slaying! It turns out that he's a big George A. Romero fan and I had just done a tribute record to Romero with 'The Living Dead Deformed', so we hit it off right away.

Three legendary mc's did get the concept who are Bumpy Knuckles, Ras Kass and a personal friend, plus source of inspiration for bands like 'Rage Against The Machine': Rudeboy Remington. Famous for his role in the groundbreaking group 'Urban Dance Squad'. And that's not all... I told you this got out of hand! Guitar hero Vernon Reid (Living Colour) did an amazing guitar solo towards the end of the track. We became friends in New York and he previously designed the cover art for one of my side projects 'The Travel'. Ok and to conclude this, the scratches were done by the 'DJ Q-bert of Europe' Kypski.

3.Freakquencies
This is a track that I more or less intended to be some sort of outro for side one. I always like to make sample collages and the radio frequencies are very useful to play with. It contains many shout-outs by many artists I respect and have been inspiring me throughout my musical journey. Again I'm super thankful for all of these shout-outs. It contains Sticky Fingaz (Onyx), Scott Ian (Anthrax), Gary Holt (Slayer / Exodus), David Ellefson (Megadeth) and Flavor Flav (Public Enemy). It actually also contains a few 'easter eggs' like snippets from 'The Horrible Doctor Bones' which was a track on the 'Full Moon Deformed' album and 'Terrorwrist' a track I produced for Public Enemy's 'Nothing is quick in the desert' album. A lot of inside stuff for the nerds.

4.Pseudocide
Psuedocide was the first track that I produced for this record. I invited superb guitarist Menno Gootjes, from legendary Prog band 'Focus' to my studio and recorded the riffs.

This kickstarted the whole thing. Here I experimented with finding a balance between Metal and Jungle/Breakcore without using samples. Mike's drumming is the foundation of the track.

I wanted to add something extra though. This came in the form of the vocal contribution of Hollywood actor Tony Todd, who I've met in New York also. He's a phenomenal actor known for 'Platoon', 'Traansformers', 'Final Destination' and many more, but I asked him to perform as his iconic character 'Candyman'. This movie made a big impact on me back in the days and his performance in it is legendary.

I wrote a text about the phenomena of someone faking his own death. I wrote it like a Horror film concept. Luckily he liked it and made a recording in his deep voice which became the intro of the track.

5.The Reckoning
This started with producing the instrumental first. I wanted to make a slow, kinda industrial sounding track, but again with a raw Black Metal vibe to it.

Some people might not know that Mike Smith (ex- Suffocation) also raps under his alias Grimm Real. I was familiar with the album he had put out under this name and it's as dark as his Metal endeavours, so a perfect Deformer match. He did one verse and I decided to do the second. For me it was just a way to ventilate some stuff at that point and I think it came out pretty nasty.

6.Inner-Outro
Inner-Outro was added as last track. I had recently composed the score for a documentary about Bushwick Bill. Just after completing the film sadly Bushwick passed away. Luckily he had the chance to see the end result of his biopic. Bushwick Bill was part of one of my favorite Rap groups called 'Geto Boys'. They were highly controversial and most hardcore if you ask me. I'm still a fan. I had previously reached out to one of the other members of the group 'Scarface', who is one of the best to ever do it. I send him a beat hoping for a verse. He replied saying the beat was fire, but at that point he quit rapping and wanted to go into politics. Scarface saying that my beat is fire already made me freak out. But I'm a persistent dude, so I asked him if he could share his thoughts on how people should not be ashamed for who they are and how they feel when it's not generally accepted by mainstream opinion. And that recording is wat came out. To make it complete I obviously had to ask third Geto Boys member Willie D the same question. To me personally this is epic. A 100 current popstar quotes couldn't match the epicness as far as I'm concerned. Again, forever grateful...

So when I finally had the music covered, I had to think of someone to do the cover art. Previously I was blessed with the work of 80's Horror poster artist Graham Humphries and manga legend Shintaro Kago, for this one I didn't have to think another second. It had to be the 'king of Thrash Metal art': Ed Repka, known for the iconic Megadeth and Death covers. We talked about the concept and he made this amazing cover.

I've done many crazy projects, but this was another amazing journey. A journey with bumpy roads sometimes, but I had a fantastic time creating it.

Again, I would like to thank all the amazing artists that have contributed to this record. Many thanks and much respect!

Get it here: http://redrumrecordz.com